Funny Faces

Well if it's funny face day, we have a contribution too! I think I took this one while he was trying to talk/make noise. He does a lot of that these days. At first he would only "talk" to Lee, AND I had to be out of the room... But he has come around. He is especially chatty at bath time. He gets so excited when we put him in the bathroom, he knows he gets to go swimming :) This one is my usual angle from above. I love how bright his eyes look in this one. I keep hoping they will stay that way. *fingers crossed!*

THE look...

This is it! She makes this face all the time and it just cracks me up! She has the one raised eyebrow that Grandpa just can't get enough of...but then she opens up her eyes really big & puckers her lips as if she were saying "oooh"! Her eyes are lightening up a bit but still very bright blue!!! Take a look and tell me that wouldn't crack you up everytime you saw it! Haha, I love her!

NO MORE BUSH!

Harper and I really enjoyed the day yesterday. We sat and watched the Inauguration of Barack Obama, our 44th President! She has no idea how monumental this actually is but I hope someday she can think to herself that even if it was only six days, she was alive for this amazing day in American history! One of our friends snapped this picture while she watched the parade...I thought it was just amazing and decided to share! Hope everyone enjoyed the day not only to bring in Obama but to get rid of Bush...ahh, there is hope.

Welcome Miss Harper!

Well, I am so glad she is finally here. What an adorable little peanut. Nice job Kate.  I wish SOOOOO much that I was there to see her and you. If I was you would get the biggest hug and Harper would be covered with kisses... Can't wait to see her! Soon I hope :)

Love you all!

Harper Jean

The longest hospital visit and stay ever!! We were admitted to Fairview Hospital on Monday, January 12th around 5 o'clock pm. Aunt Meggie and I had been there since 1:30 however getting an ultra sound and a non-stress test. Harper was measuring at a weight of 6 lbs. 7 oz. so Dr. Moyer and Dr. Drazdik decided to just get things moving and induce in the morning.This was night number one, mostly spent with Aunt Meggie, Uncle Boobie and Aunt Kelly!! Uncle Chris brought us some dinner but couldn't stay too long...stupid visitor parking!

The next morning, Tuesday, January 13th, around 6:30 am, the nurses hooked us up to a Pitocin drip to get things moving. Even though it got contractions going they were not painful just a little bit uncomfortable. I was easily moving in and out of bed, listening to music and being nosey going through all the cupboards and closests, again with Aunt Meggie, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Boobie. Grandma was stopping for coffee for everyone else and finally got to the hospital around 10 o'clock. She decided to stay home the night before to get a good night sleep to be ready for the next day! Because they were inducing me, I was cut off from anything but clear liquids at mid-night the night before. We rushed to order some pizza with no idea how long it would actually be until I got to eat!! This is how we spent most of Tuesday morning...

Things were still moving pretty slowly and I wasn't progressing very much with the Pitocin so the nurses were upping my dose pretty often. Even though I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes, they were more than bearable and most times I didn't even notice them as contractions. After a little nap from about 1-3 pm Dr. Drazdik decided that I had progressed enough and she was going to break my water and told me that would move things along a lot quicker; boy did it! Only a short time after wards, maybe 30-40 minutes, my contractions were about 1-2 minutes apart, lasting about 30-45 seconds and were easily up to a 9 on a 1-10 pain scale. I dealt with those getting progressivly harder, faster etc. from about 4:15 pm until I decided to get an Epidural around 7 o'clock. By the time the anesthesiologist got to the room and put in the epidural it was about 8 o'clock and I was feeling incredible by about 8:15. Take a look...

Around about 10 o'clock it was wearing off and they gave me another dose. I was checked and progressing pretty well but still wasn't ready. Then around 11 o'clock it was wearing off again but I had made enough progress that they didn't want to re-dose me because I could be delivering soon. This next picture is Jana and I; she is pretty content and just waiting. I however am starting to feel those contractions again and my epidural was definitely not doing what it was before! haha

The nurse came in to check me around 11:30 and told us that I was 10 cm. and 100% ready to go! She was going to give my doctors a call and get things set up in the room for delivery! I got a little sick to my stomach and thought I was going to throw up. At first they said that it was just the epidural and to breathe, it would pass. Well I put a cold rag on my forehead and closed my eyes. By the time I calmed myself down (I'm pretty sure the nausea was strictly nerves) my doctors were there! It was about 12:05 when they walked in the door. We waited for a contraction to start pushing...I pushed through 4 maybe 5 contractions for a total of about 15 minutes and she was out!!

She opened her eyes as soon as she was out! They brought her straight to my chest and she looked at me and I looked at her and I started crying (like everyone else in the room!). I only got a few seconds good look at her because after that my eyes were just so blurry. We had a name tally on the door all day letting all the nurses and doctors, even other patients if they wanted, vote on the names they liked between Evelyn, Reagan, Harper and Emerson...Harper only got one vote for #1 choice but as soon as I looked at her I just knew she was going to be my little Harper Jean. She was finally here & nothing could have ruined that moment. Everyone was so happy & taking pictures...I will add them soon. As for now, I would like to introduce you to my daughter...my 6 lb. 13 oz., 19 inches long, perfect Harper Jean.

Say Hi Harper...